Bình luận đặc biệt: Chúng tôi ủng hộ Apple trước Trung Quốc bất cứ lúc nào, nhưng đếch ai ngỏm về cái sạc Lightning đáng chết đó | Bình luận và Quan điểm của Biên tập viên

Few implements are as loathed as Apple’s notorious Lightning connector, the tech giant’s bespoke method of charging its devices. We’ve fiddled and messed with the finicky cords for years, turning them over as one side goes kaput, then throwing the cord away entirely and cursing at how few of them ever seem to last for more than a few weeks. For Apple devotees, just plugging in a Lightning cord can get the heart pounding, given the dire consequences these days of a dead phone.

So we were glad to see Tuesday that the cords, outrageous and dysfunctional Apple profit-padders, are headed for the recycling bin, replaced by the industry standard USB-C charging cable. Of course, that’s assuming you upgrade your iPhone to the latest model, as announced at Apple’s annual celebration of cool new upgrades.

Apple’s hand was forced by European Union regulators, invested in the societal benefits of creating a single connective standard for all mobile devices, including phones, tablets and cameras. Acting in October of last year, the European Parliament required the common charging port for new phones from autumn 2024, with laptop compatibility required in 2026.

Apple fought back against the decision, claiming its proprietary rights, but Cupertino lost the battle with Brussels, although savvy observers subsequently have noted that Apple may well make lemonade out of a lemonlike decision for them, given that there will be people out there who upgrade their phones just to avoid the Lightning curse. On the other hand, as Lightning cords become hard to find and eventually obsolete, electronic waste could increase.

The American company has had a rough September so far, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Chinese government officials were talking about directives not to bring Apple devices to the office. That caused Apple’s highflying stock to fall because investors well know that the Chinese market, public and private, so to speak, is crucial to a company that reported an astonishing $394 billion in annual revenue in 2022.

All that said, we’re still backing Apple to prevail against its Chinese aggressors.

Why does China fear a company whose phones are mostly manufactured within its borders?

There are two main reasons: One is national security, given how much data these devices are capable of collecting. The other is the rise of Chinese phone brands like Huawei, a name that is popular at home but have only marginal current visibility in Europe and the U.S., where Huawei phones are not sold. More specifically, China is no doubt protecting and promoting the new Huawei Mate 60 Pro series, which comes with high-end 5G-capabilities, a highly regarded camera and even some ability to make satellite-assisted calls. That product has been predicted by some analysts as likely to erode the iPhone’s market share in China: After all, there are a whole lot of government-affiliated entities in China and even more entities that would think twice about upsetting Beijing.

Meanwhile, the high-end phone widely has been seen as an impressive breakthrough for Huawei, whose access to the requisite chipmaking tools for phones at this level has been restricted since 2019 by the U.S. Tech heads have been wondering how this was possible and whether the phone used stockpiled chips or new innovations. Either way, U.S. chip sanctions apparently were not as effective as they were cracked up to be. No surprise. Sanctions rarely work as intended.

In essence, then, smartphones are caught up in a government war. President Joe Biden even mentioned the Apple debacle in Vietnam. “China is beginning to change some of the rules of the game in terms of trade and other issues,” Biden said Sunday, presumably alluding to this very issue.

Of course, the U.S. plays much the same game when it comes to Chinese phones.

This all is a tricky situation, given the potential capacity of high-powered phones to suck up, and then leak, secrets. But there are safeguards that can be put in place and Apple has been famously responsive to the needs and dictates of the Chinese government in the past. And the Chinese manufacturing sector has benefited enormously from Apple’s rise.

It’s one thing to worry legitimately about privacy, and another to use the influence of a powerful central government to favor a homegrown manufacturer of choice. That’s protectionism and history teaches us that it doesn’t work in the long term, instead causing the kind of tit-for-tat restrictions that stifle innovation.

So we call on Beijing to ease up on the Apple badmouthing. And we see no theoretical reason why top-drawer Huawei cellphones should not be on sale in the U.S., as are some other Chinese phones, assuming enough transparency and sufficient safeguards to assuage any worries about spying, national security and personal privacy. Right now, that’s a big assumption many would not be willing to make. That’s an issue for the Chinese government to fix.

But the world benefits from free competition and Apple is a formidably innovative American company, one that has transformed technology — heck, life itself — across the globe and established itself as the best in its class. We would not bet against its long-term abilities to weather these latest headwinds from Huawei and the Chinese government.

We also don’t think the average Chinese customer will find Apple products any less appealing just because the nervous government says it should.

Especially since they’ll soon be able to charge up their new iPhones with ease.

— Chicago Tribune